The History of Food

Catalog description

From the earliest uses of fire for cooking up through our modern age of fast food and organic gardening, human culinary traditions have long shaped and been shaped by the forces of history. This course offers a general overview of the history of food production and consumption in the West from prehistoric times through the 21st century, with a special focus on the various ways in which social and political history have impacted dining, taste, and cooking. Among a great variety of topics, we will focus on the origins of cooked food; ancient Hebrew dietary laws; the “spice revolution” and the great influence of Arabic cuisine on the kitchens of medieval Europe; emerging ideas about etiquette and table manners including the use of the fork; the advent of print and the first printed cookbooks; the Columbian Exchange and the arrival of foods from the New World; the rise of French cuisine; food and immigration; the global dominance of fast food; and sustainable food production and consumption in the modern era. We will pay a special emphasis throughout the course to the myriad ways in which food production and consumption in history have always been gendered, as well as influenced by ideas about social class.